The Labor Union Legalisation was Revoked, PPMI Sued The Government

Solidaritas.net, Purwakarta – Again, the laborers’ freedom of association was stained. This time, however, was not because of the company, but the government that banned one of the trade unions from the list. The name was the Member Workers Brotherhood of Indonesian Moslem Workers Brotherhood (PPA PPMI) PT Gistex Chewon Syntetic, which was revoked and removed from the list legalisation by the Head of Purwakarta Regency Department of Manpower, Social, and Transmigration (Disnakersostrans).

Advocacy Team of PPMI submit the lawsuit to the administrative court in West Java, Bandung, March 30, 2015.

Treated arbitrarily, made them fight back by suing the Head of Purwakarta Disnakersostrans. The PPA PPMI chairman of PT Gistex, Aditya Putra represented by the legal counsel from the Defender Team of Indonesian Muslim Workers (TPPMI), and accompanied by DPC PPMI Purwakarta and DPC PPMI Karawang registered the lawsuit in the Bandung State Administrative Court (PTUN) on Monday (30/3/2015).

“The case of labor union revocation was the first time to happen in the West Java PTUN. In the case records of the Supreme Court, it was also the first, “said the spokesman of TPPMI, Eko Putra Novriansyah, to Solidaritas.net, Thursday (16/04/2015).

Eko explained that the letter from the head of Purwakarta Disnakersostrans No. 251/246-PKTK/2015 on 15 January 2015 reasoned the number of PPA PPMI PT Gistex members was only one person, so it no longer qualified as a labor union. However, he said that Disnakersostrans had no authority to revoke and cross out a trade union from the list of workers union/labor unions (SP/SB) which issued.

Moreover, the letter was based on the provision of Article 42 Paragraph (1) of the Act No. 21 of 2000 on Workers Union/Labor Union, which basically did not rule on the revocation or deletion of a trade union.

“What is the Disnakersostrans’ authority to revoke the trade union? In other region, they never do this. Why are they so aggressive? In the letter, there are “revoked” and “crossed out” words. Based on the regulations, there is no such provision. As if it was no longer normative, but it is forced. And, the number of members is the internal issue of the trade union, instead of Disnakersostrans,” Eko added his explanation about the basis of their lawsuit.

He also questioned the supervisory function that did not run well all this time. The governments are even on the employers’ side to suppress the workers union.

“They should warn us first, ‘You are lack in here, I imposed a sanction, but a temporary one.’ It was the function of supervision. But if the function is to suppress, it will be like this. The important point is this is suppression. It is no longer carried out by the irresponsible companies, but it is done by the government. It is a matter of association freedom, and it is guaranteed by the Act,” he ended and said about the council schedule on next Tuesday (21/04/2015).